Subject Area: International Studies

This course will equip you with a set of research method skills. The course focuses on teaching ‘how’ to undertake and analyse research methods through experiential learning and the use of contemporary and familiar case study examples of research topics relevant to international studies. We will get out of the classroom and practice what we are learning. The course will introduce both traditional methods (for example, discourse analysis, surveys and interviews) as well as innovative methods that draw on the affective turn as well as digital ethnography (for example, embodied observation, sonic movement, photo elicitation and geo-tagging). Underpinning this tuition of research methods is the rationale for generating data through research methods in the first place. All research undertaken with people in international landscapes will involve research methods to understand the interactions, mobilities, modifications, attachments and feelings to, and about those landscapes. This course will equip you with the skills to conduct research methods yourself but it will also develop your awareness of how the data you use is generated, as well as providing the contextual foundation in research ethics and researcher positionality.